Menu

On feelings

Immediately after President Obama announced five years ago that the U.S. had found and killed Osama bin Laden, hundreds of people in Washington, D.C., flocked to the front of the White House to celebrate. They were elated, they were proud and they felt some real justice for 9/11.

But after that, the administration said it wouldn’t release photos or images of bin Laden’s body or his burial at sea because making them public would provide propaganda for al Qaeda.

The nation was supposed to swallow its pain and need for closure for the deadliest attack in its history — lest they upset the Muslims over there and get us all in trouble!

Americans have been asked to keep their feelings inside for a long time now.

Don’t get mad at illegal immigrants driving down wages, they’re here for a better way of life.

We can’t do “tough talk” about the Islamic terrorists “because that’s what groups like ISIL are hoping for.”

We just called you a racist but there’s no room in our public discourse for foul language, so please respond kindly.

People can only be told to hold it in for so long. And this is precisely why Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, says the crudest shit and his supporters don’t care.

They love it. They needed it. It’s therapy.

During a campaign rally in Iowa last year, Trump said he would “bomb the shit out of” ISIS.

In February, he threw water all over the stage at a Texas rally to make fun of his then-competitor Marco Rubio, who regularly told his own really bad jokes about needing water.

In the same month, he told a crowd in New Hampshire to tell big companies who leave their state and take their jobs with them “to go f*** themselves” (he only mouthed the word).

The crowds always cheer. Somebody finally said what they were told they could never say. And he didn’t give a f***.